Pageant Malakouti

Pageant Malakouti is a reality television show produced by Namawaka TV. As a spin off of RuPaul's Drag Race and hosted by the Nori pop culture icon Eden xo (Jessie Malakouti), the show documents Malakouti's search for the next Haus of Malakouti drag queen. Although titled a pageant, Pageant Malakouti searches for the candidate most suitable to join the Haus of Malakouti by RuPaul's CUNT (charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent) criteria.

Background
Officially a spin off of RuPaul's Drag Race, the show was approved by Namawaka TV in early 2016 after Eden xo pitched the idea, originally penned "The Malakouti Pageant". She has cited the show is "beauty pageants, drag competitions, talent shows and reality TV all thrown into one". RuPaul is said to have helped Malakouti in pitching the idea.

Format
Casting calls are announced to certain queens around six months before filming, whilst queens who are not directly notified can apply online around two months later by sending in an audition tape, when casting calls are put online. Pageant Malakouti uses progressive elimination to reduce the number of contestants as the season plays out, with the final three contestants staying to go onto the grand finale. Eden has previously said that double eliminations and non-eliminations are entirely viable, just like they are on the main show.

Congenial challenges
Congenial challenges generally consist of less-demanding challenges that vary from improvisational acting, singing, runway walking, photography and clothing-based tasks. The winner(s) of these challenges win a prize of some sort, usually beauty-related.

Main challenges
Main challenges also vary from episode to episode, depending on the theme of the week. Contestants are often asked to design clothing to wear on the runway that will be judged, along with their performance from the week. As with the congenial challenges, the winner(s) of this challenge win a prize, however main challenge prizes are of a notably higher value than that of the congenial challenges. Before walking the runway the contestants must take part in a photoshoot, which will be critiqued by the judges.

Judging
The judging panel, lead by Malakouti, give critique to each of the contestants after they walk the runway. The contestants are ranked into three categories: stars, starlets, and flops. One of the stars is announced as the winner, whilst the bottom two of the flops have to lip sync to a song decided by Malakouti, in Drag Race style.